The effect of gender, occupation and experience on behavior while driving on a freeway deceleration lane based on field operational test data

•The FOT data from 46 participants was used to analyze the effectiveness of drivers’ characteristics, including gender, occupation and experience, on driving behaviors on a freeway deceleration lane.•Male drivers recognize risk more than female drivers, and also have more aggressive driving tendencies.•Professional drivers and experienced drivers made the last lane-change as early as possible to enter the deceleration lane.•The speed of the vehicles entering the exit ramp was significantly higher than the design speed.•The minimum TTC and the maximum deceleration show that the certain driving behaviors are related to high traffic risk. Deceleration lanes improve traffic flow by reducing interference, increasing capacity and enhancing safety. However, accident rates are higher on these interchange segments than on other freeway segments. It is important to attempt to reduce traffic accidents on these interchange segments by further exploring the behavior of different types of drivers on a highway deceleration lane. In this study, with field operational test (FOT) data from 89 driving instances (derived from 46 participants driving the test road twice) on a typical freeway deceleration lane, section speed profiles, vehicle trajectories, lane position and other key parameters were obtained. The lane-change characteristics and speed profiles of drivers with different genders, occupations and experiences were analyzed. The significant disparities between them reflects the risk associated with different groups of drivers. The study shows that male drivers changed to the outside lane earlier; professional drivers and experienced drivers made the last lane change as early as possible to enter the deceleration lane; and the speed of the vehicles entering the exit ramp was significantly higher than the speed limit. This research work provides ground truth data for deceleration lane design, driver ability training and off-ramp traffic safety management.